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US stock future indexes are up fractionally (SPY +0.3%) but appear to be trending down moderately. WTI crude prices falling further from yesterday's highs ahead of inventory reporting at 10:30 am. Markets expected to open fractionally higher, but will not climb high enough to see previous highs during today's session.

What Is Moving the Markets

LONDON (Reuters) - Forecast-beating earnings in the tech sector lifted European shares on Wednesday and the dollar strengthened on growing expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve may raise interest rates before the end of the year.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Gamers in Japan, home of Nintendo Co's Pokemon, waited in vain on Wednesday for the launch of its smash-hit mobile phone game, amid media reports that the developers behind it had hit the brakes over concerns that manic demand would overload server capacity.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's securities industry body will tackle leaks of unpublished corporate information with a new set of guidelines, it said on Wednesday, a move that comes as the country grapples with how to ensure fair access to market-sensitive information.

PARIS (Reuters) - French oil and gas company Total said on Wednesday it was analyzing a competing offer made by rival U.S oil giant ExxonMobil's for explorer InterOil Corp , its partner in a gas field in Papua New Guinea.

LONDON (Reuters) - Pacific Investment Management Co (PIMCO) has poached Emmanuel 'Manny' Roman from Man Group , the world's biggest listed hedge fund, as it tries to reverse a slump in fortunes since co-founder Bill Gross left in 2014.

Following on from the Brexit vote last month the IMF have decided to re-evaluate their forecast for global growth.

Bloomberg reports that they have revised their original 3.2% forecast down to 3.1% for 2016 and from 3.5% to 3.4% for 2017. While these feel like very modest revisions ,the IMF would not be known for radical changes of direction preferring slow and steady revisions.

Their new forecast is based on the assumption that British and EU officials reach new trade agreements that avoid a "large increase in economic barriers." However, if talks break down, Britain will slip into recession as more financial institutions relocate to the euro area and consumption and investment contract more than expected, the fund said. In a "severe" scenario, global growth is seen sliding to 2.8 percent this year and next.

"The IMF has serious credibility problems. It has been seriously wrong for years. I hope that one of the things that the new government does is push to have some credible people running this institution... rather than the clowns currently running it," exclaimed UKIP MP Douglas Carswell, pointing out Lagarde's legion of fools flip-flop that the British economy will grow faster than Germany and France in the next two years - only weeks after its doom-laden warnings about Brexit.

As The Daily Mail reports, after saying that leaving the European Union could trigger a UK recession, the International Monetary Fund now expects the British economy to grow by 1.7 per cent this year and 1.3 per cent next year.

That is weaker than the 1.9 and 2.2 per cent growth forecasts before the referendum, but the UK is still set to be the second-fastest growing economy in the Group of Seven industrialised nations this year - behind the United States - and third-fastest next year, behind the US and Canada.

Of course, this is not the first time The IMF has unleashed comedic genius on the world...

Wikileaks claimed Monday it was under attack after it announced it would release hundreds of thousands of documents related to Turkey and the failed military coup attempted Friday, CNET reported.

The organization, which has released information on everything from war crimes to Hillary Clinton's email scandal, announced Sunday it would be releasing 100,000 documents related to Turkey's "political power structure," some of which detail the "leadup" to the coup.

ANNOUNCE: Get ready for a fight as we release 100k+ docs on #Turkey's political power structure. #TurkeyCoup #Soon pic.twitter.com/dhJuWza4Es

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) July 18, 2016

Wikileaks anticipated the release would be censored in Turkey, cautioning ...

Following the example set by the other banks, earlier today Morgan Stanley, the last big bank to report earnings, said its profit fell 12% in Q2 on a 9% drop in revenue even as the company weathered volatile markets that affected its investing and corporate clients. The EPS of $0.75, however, beat sharply lowered expectations of $0.60 on the back of sharp cost-cutting measures, pushing its shares up 3% in the premarket.

Net income declined to $1.58 billion, or 75 cents a share, from $1.81 billion, or 85 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue tumbled 8.6% to $8.91 billion. The results come a day after Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley's great Wall Street rival, also disclosed a worse-than-expected performance from its equities unit.

Morgan Stanley's own trading revenue down 7.1% to $3.26 billion from $3.5 billion a year ago, but when excluding an accounting adjustment, trading revenue fell 2%. Investment-banking revenue fell 23% to $1.11 billion from $1.44 billion in the second quarter of 2015. Fees from advising on mergers and other deals rose 17% to $497 million from $423 million a year ago. Revenue on stock and bond underwriting slipped 40% to $611 million from $1.02 billion in the same period a year prior. This, however, was a solid beat to expectations with MS outperforming consensus in virtually every category, with particular strenght in FICC.

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